Appointing a Controversial Advocate
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) is under fire for selecting Soffiyah Elijah, a lawyer who has represented multiple convicted cop-killers, to serve on the city's judicial advisory board. The 18-member panel recommends candidates for criminal court judgeships to "help ensure that our judicial system reflects the city it serves," according to city guidelines.
Elijah, founder of the Alliance of Families for Justice, has defended figures including Sundiata Acoli, convicted of murdering a New Jersey state trooper, and Marilyn Buck, linked to a deadly 1981 armored truck robbery. She has called many clients "political prisoners" and advocated for overhauling what she terms the "repressive racist criminal injustice system." Elijah also successfully campaigned for the release of Acoli and Buck, the latter of whom lived with her until her death.
Jewish Representation Concerns
The appointment comes as Mamdani faces criticism for excluding Jewish members from the advisory board in a city where approximately 10% of residents identify as Jewish. A Jewish lawyers' organization expressed "deep disappointment" in a letter to the mayor, calling the lack of representation part of a "troubling pattern" amid rising antisemitism concerns.
Mamdani rejected former appellate judge John Leventhal, a Jewish jurist who represented Ghislaine Maxwell on an appellate matter related to her sex-trafficking conviction. "It's hypocritical to pick on the Maxwell case when people have other unpopular clients," Leventhal told the Washington Free Beacon. "The fact that I'm Jewish, it has a stink about it. If not me, why not another Jew?"
Leventhal, who helped establish the nation's first felony domestic violence court, emphasized that representing controversial clients is a core principle of criminal defense work. "To single me out because of Maxwell, if it's not a pretense, it's hypocritical," he said.
Mamdani's chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, who oversees the advisory committee, has represented al Qaeda detainees. Kassem is also in a relationship with Darializa Avila-Chevalier, a socialist activist and Democratic nominee for a congressional seat covering Harlem and parts of the Bronx.
Elijah's organization has included former Weather Underground leaders such as Kathy Boudin, convicted in the Brink's robbery, and Susan Rosenberg, convicted of terrorism-related offenses. In a 2020 essay, Elijah wrote of seeking "a world where punishment is not society's default response to wrongdoing." She has also criticized lengthy sentences for individuals she views as political prisoners, including a member of the De Mau Mau group convicted in a 1972 Chicago killing spree.
Mamdani's office did not respond to requests for comment.